Here's why a Japanese medical school is tweaking results to exclude women candidates

A Japanese government investigation sparked by a row over medical school admissions has found improper practices at 10 institutions, including 4 that tried to keep women out. 

As per the reports, the universities manipulated test scores for more than a decade to ensure more men became doctors. Officials said it was because female applicants tended to perform better in the interview part of the assessment since "women mature faster mentally than men."

As reported by Business Insider, the private Juntendo University in Tokyo told a Monday press conference that it set lower pass marks for men in its entrance exams, which included an interview. 

Women make up 21% of all Japan's doctors, Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare said in 2016. That is the lowest proportion of female-to-male doctors among all 36 countries in the the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the non-profit Nippon Communication Foundation said.

Juntendo University representatives said this was because female candidates tended to perform better in interviews, so the rigging was a "measure to help" their male counterparts.

In August, investigators found that Tokyo Medical University, one of Japan's top medical schools, systematically altered admissions test scores to make sure women wouldn't get in.

The university marked down female applicants' scores to keep their numbers below 30% of the student body, the report found. 

Officials on Monday said that it would accept 48 people from that batch - of which 47 were women - from 2019 onwards, and refund the entrance test fees for the remaining 117, the Japan Times reported.